


A Different Taste

by Luzula



Category: The Bear and the Nightingale - Katherine Arden
Genre: Coming of Age, F/F, Menstruation, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-02-05 04:21:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12786849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luzula/pseuds/Luzula
Summary: The rusalka, forbidden from drowning men in the lake, finds another source of nourishment.





	A Different Taste

**Author's Note:**

> Written spontaneously after finishing the book. Thanks to Isis for the beta!

Vasya became a woman on a warm summer day in June. 

The small of her back had ached strangely all morning, and she had got away from her chores to go down to the lake. She swam and dived into the cool green water, where she opened her eyes to look into the rusalka's green eyes. The water felt good on her heated skin. 

Naked and dripping, they climbed the beech tree that leaned over the water. The layers of fresh green leaves would hide them from anyone who came looking. They climbed to the top, where the sun shone through and Vasya's hair slowly dried, while the rusalka combed hers so that drops of water fell down through the leaves. 

Vasya rubbed her back idly, and bent her knee up to change her posture. 

"Is something wrong with you?" the rusalka asked. 

"No. Yes. My back hurts," Vasya said. 

The rusalka's gaze suddenly sharpened as she looked at Vasya's thigh. When Vasya looked down, there was blood on it, and she startled and had to grab at the branch next to her. 

"You're bleeding," the rusalka whispered. 

"I--I think it must be my woman's blood," Vasya said. She had known it would come, of course, but she hadn't thought when. Vasya had been a girl for a long time, and her sister Olya had been younger than this when her first blood came. 

"Women bleed from between their legs?" the rusalka asked. 

"Yes. It's a sign that I could have children. That I am ready to marry." But she didn't want to think about that, or about telling Dunya. Much less Anna Ivanovna. 

"I do not bleed. But then I do not marry either." She had not taken her eyes from the blood. "Can I taste it?" 

Vasya thought about the domovoi, how she would cut her finger to give him blood and make him stronger. "Yes," she said. 

The rusalka stretched out her long pale finger to touch the blood on Vasya's thigh, and then licked it. She closed her eyes and sucked on the finger, then brought it back to swipe away more blood. The touch of her finger there made Vasya shiver. 

The rusalka came closer, and leaned down to lick more blood. Her tongue was hot where it lapped against Vasya's skin, not cool like the lake. Vasya's skin prickled, and there was a strange, heavy feeling low in her gut. She could feel her pulse between her legs. The rusalka looked up at her intently, staring until Vasya bit her lip and looked away. 

"Can I have it?" the rusalka asked. 

"Have what?" Vasya said hoarsely. 

"Your desire. Your desire and your blood." 

Vasya thought of the men drawn to their deaths in the lake. Did they feel like this? 

"I won't hurt you. I promise," the rusalka said in a low voice, as if she could tell what Vasya was thinking. Her hair dripped down Vasya's legs, giving her goosebumps. 

Vasya thought of how she had forbidden the rusalka to do what she did. Perhaps she should give the rusalka this instead, if it would not hurt her. Truly she was curious, to know what this thing was that drove men so. 

"Yes," she whispered. 

The rusalka lowered her head and delicately licked again, closer and closer to the hair that had grown between Vasya's legs. Her wet hand lifted up Vasya's leg further, so that she was spread out, bracing her foot on another branch. 

Then the rusalka put her mouth on the pulsing center between Vasya's legs, and Vasya let out all her breath and tightened her hands where they gripped the branch. The rusalka spread her open, searching out every trace of blood, and with every lap of her tongue Vasya felt the fire grow within her. Her nipples grew tight. 

She had not known this was a thing her body could do. But she was made for this, like she was made for swimming, like she was made for riding like the wind with the muscles of a horse working under her. 

The pleasure crested suddenly, and Vasya cried out, her chest heaving. She throbbed between her legs, every touch of the rusalka's tongue almost too much, until she finally drew back. Vasya closed her eyes. She could melt and drip down like warm honey. 

When she opened her eyes again the rusalka was watching her. She looked different, almost plump and well-fed, where she had been slender and thin before. She licked her lips, looking sated. 

"It tastes different, without the fear," the rusalka said. 

Vasya moved and stretched, feeling at once the strain of being spread out on the branches thus. "Does it feel like this, lying with a man?" she asked. 

"How would I know? They always die, in the lake," the rusalka said. She took up her comb, even her hair more thick and shiny as the water ran down it. "But this blood will sustain me far better." 

"I am glad," Vasya said. She dangled her leg over the side of the branch, feeling extraordinary well-being run through her body. Perhaps it was not so bad, being a woman.


End file.
